Liverpool duo intend to make it up to fans who travelled to Brazil only to see the Three Lions eliminated after two games - starting against Norway on Wednesday

The anguish of Sao Paulo will never go away. But England’s next generation pledged to ensure it is a motivation, not an anchor weighing them down for years to come.

Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson returned from Brazil as two of the few bright spots from Roy Hodgson's World Cup debacle.

For both, though, there was an awareness that the nation has lost faith, hope and belief, with even the FA’s optimistic forecasts anticipating a record low new Wembley crowd of 40,000 for the Three Lions' Wednesday friendly against Norway.

"As players, we understand we let everybody down - not only ourselves but also the fans who travelled halfway round the world to watch us,’’ conceded Henderson.

"The fans are amazing every time you go out out and play, home and away but hopefully we can show them how much it matters to us and make them want to go to the games.

"Whoever says that players don’t care about putting on an England shirt is talking nonsense.

"If you had been in the dressing room after the Uruguay game you would see how much we do care as players. I don’t think we will ever forget that feeling of sheer disappointment. It was hard to take and we’ll keep that pain through our careers.

Poll loading …

"We have just got to keep going and keep fighting as a team. We will get a lot of criticism but this is a new start. We have to show people we are good enough and deserve to be here."

Moved back out wide from a central role, the teenager - who confessed he did not understand Reds boss Brendan Rodgers’ joke about his Ricky Villa dribble but "Ricky Gervais’’ shot at Spurs on Sunday until he Googled the names - recalled: "I didn’t perform to the best I could’ve done in the second game.

"If you go out of a major tournament after just two games you’re really disappointed. Everyone was really upset. You could see it on the faces in the changing rooms.

"We don’t want that again.’’

Sterling remains the man Hodgson will look to build around in the new order but as the youngster was further pressed on his display against Uruguay, Henderson’s intervention was a clear sign of his willingness to embrace a leadership role within the group.

Jamie Squire

Everybody hurts: Jordan Henderson and his gutted team-mates against Uruguay

“Raheem was our best player against Italy and even in the Uruguay game, when he got the ball he tried to be positive, to take players on and get crosses in. I thought he was outstanding.’’

It was good to see. But the England fans need to see more, far more, from both of them. The clouds of despair will take a long time to banish.

“There’s no hiding away from the World Cup,’’ added Henderson. “It should have been a lot better but we can’t do anything about it now. We have to go out there and deserve to be in the England team and show people how good we are and how much we really care."